Clash
by MoonlightMystery13.3
Summary: This starts with the fight mentioned in Big Brother's Shoes. Featuring character exploration, Kaz and Oliver friendship, and an Oliver who actually stands up for what he believes in, so I'm actually pretty excited for this one. We'll get into more of what happened in later chapters. I think it'll be a three-parter. Gift for Aliqueen16. Thanks for R&Ring! :D


A/N: Hi! I'm posting this along with Big Brother's Shoes, which you should probably read first, but that's only a suggestion. This is the fight mentioned in that fic, and the next chapter will be the botched mission from Kaz, Oliver, and Chase's POVs.

Episode: None

Characters: Chase, Kaz, and Oliver

Rating/Warnings: K+, angst, regrettable things being said. No swearing, though.

Inspiration: Big Brother's Shoes. Yes, I managed to get inspired by one of my own stories. XD

This story is also for Aliqueen16! Best wishes for the New Year. :) I'll do my very best to update this promptly, and have it all out by the 15th at the latest.

 **And be the reason someone smiles today! :D**

* * *

Chase was smoldering. The mission they had just returned from had been a disaster, from beginning to end. Kaz had ditched the plan entirely, despite his help being critical for its success, Skylar and Bree had gotten distracted on the way, and been late (and prevented a 4 semi-truck pileup, but still, late), and Oliver had gone in after his best friend. He'd probably saved Kaz's life along the way, too, judging by how distracted Kaz had been, but Chase, the only one who'd actually followed the carefully formulated plan, was rather beyond caring.

And so here he was, in their living room, and Oliver and Kaz. Skyler had never been to a spa before, at least beyond a DIY level, and Bree had quickly decided to remedy that. So they were off doing whatever girls do at spas, and Chase was here, trying very hard not to explode, but also wanting to debrief the mission to someone, to discuss what had gone wrong.

That had been his and Mr. Davenport's thing, exempting the times Mr. Davenport had chewed them out before giving him a chance to tell his side of events. They would sit down, maybe over a small project, or a recording of the mission, and carefully dissect all of his decisions, go through anything that went wrong, so that he would know what to do next time. But here, where usually, he was the highest authority, he had no idea what to do when things went wrong. He would probably die before admitting it aloud, but this whole assignment was just overwhelming.

"Well," Kaz commented comfortably, stretching further out on the couch. "That went well.

Oliver, who sat in a nearby chair, just rolled his eyes. "We talked about this," he began, but Kaz cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, follow the plan, don't do stupid things, stop risking your life, even though it's basically our job, yada yada ya. I know, Oliver, I know."

"Well, you clearly don't remember it when it counts," Oliver reasoned, "so you could stand to be reminded." He shook his head. "You really can be an idiot, Kaz."

Chase grinned internally at the banter. He could use a snark session to blow off some steam. He sat up on the back of his chair, anticipating a good exchange of sarcasm.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Chase said lightly, breaking into the conversation, smiling disarmingly.

"See, Ol, Chase agrees with me," Kaz remarked, looking slightly relieved. He grinned, lay back, and threw an arm over his eyes to complete the picture of lazy comfort. Oliver snickered, but something in the movement just pissed Chase off. Whatever he'd been going to say flew out of his mind, and without really knowing why, Chase turned his fury of Kaz.

Still in a sarcastic tone, but a biting one, not the light one he'd started in, Chase continued, "I think he's an imbecile who could barely remember his own name under pressure, much less a plan."

The room just stilled. Even Chase was taken aback by what he'd said, but immediately, he felt better about it. Yes, why not? Kaz clearly needed to be knocked down a peg or two. Why not him? Why not now?

Without moving a muscle from his sprawl, Kaz asked quietly, "Ex _cuse_ me?" His voice was flat, dangerously calm, disbelieving. Out of the corner of his eyes, Chase saw Oliver narrow his eyes at the exchange, but plowed on, not stopping to think.

"You heard me," he replied, just as dangerously. Oliver tried to interject, but Chase didn't stop. "You went off book," he spat. "Even though the whole plan relied on you making the right move at the right time. But, as usual, you messed it up. So I had to improvise, at every turn, just trying to pick up the pieces." Chase's vehemence was fueled by the stress of trying to keep the whole thing together, of all the close calls. It made him cruel. "You're so irresponsible, it's a miracle anyone ever mistook you for a hero. I can't believe a buffon like you ever ended up on a team like mine. Do you have any idea how many people you could have gotten killed with that stunt you pulled today?" Chase did. He'd counted. And with his perfect memory, it was impossible to forget. And the pain of that knowledge sent him over the edge to strike the final blow. "You never get anything right, and I think this team would just be better off without dragging your dead weight around."

There. He'd said it. More than he'd meant to, more than he probably should have. But that was how he felt, after that disaster, and he was sick of stuffing all his emotions into corners and trying to forget about them. Like a leader was supposed to. Still, even the second the finished speaking, he felt a twinge of regret. He pushed it away, not ready to deal with it. He'd meant what he said, hadn't he? And it had needed to be said sometime, hadn't it?

In the pained silence that followed, Kaz slowly, mechanically sat up, and met Chase's eyes. He looked astonished, angry, struggling to hide the hurt and insecurity, not entirely successful. Kaz shook his head, opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head again, lost for words.

But a frosty voice answered for him. " _You don't get to talk to him like that,"_ Oliver growled, eyes frigid . His hands fisted, clearly barely holding back more literal frost.

Chase was taken aback, having expected Kaz to reply, if anyone was going to, but his temper got the better of him. His arrogance swelled with rage. "Oh? And why not? I'm older, smarter, more experienced, and your mission leader."

"Oh, shut up," Oliver snapped, eyes flashing more silver than blue. Chase realized, in a moment of lucidity, that this was Oliver when legitimately angry. He'd always thought Oliver was a little bit of a pushover, never really standing up to anyone. The worse he'd seen was Oliver get annoyed, but anger, true anger, had never made an appearance. Not until then, anyway.

Chase wisely shut up.

Kaz tried to say something, probably proving that he was both braver and stupider than Chase was, but Oliver was having none of it. "No," he said, firmly, and a spiderweb of ice crept out from where he sat, punctuating his point. "Let me say this."

He turned back to Chase, ice under control, but anger still burning cold in his eyes. His voice was cool, controlled. "You don't get to call him any of those things. You don't _get_ to talk to him like that. You didn't ask for his side of the story, for his reasons, just went off based on what you thought happened. And you don't understand where he's coming from. Do I insult him? Of course. He's my best friend, my brother. Brothers tease each other, but we don't mean it. We're not cruel, and when we are, we apologize, sooner or later. That's why you don't get to talk to him the same way. That's why I won't _let you._ Your dad, or whoever he is, may have thrown us together, and decided that we were a team, but you're not his brother. So you don't get to chew him out like that. You're the mission leader, yes. You're more experienced, yes. So you give polite, constructive criticism. _I_ chew him out for risking his life to save the family that didn't have time to wait for your plan to work. I go after him, and save him from himself, and punch him because he's alive to feel it. But you don't. Do we understand each other?"

Only pausing to register Chase's stunned nod, Oliver stood, grabbed the still shocked Kaz by the arm, and towed him out of the room, off away from the sleeping rooms.

Chase sat, staring at the now empty room. He'd been brought forcibly back to his senses, and was ashamed to realize what Oliver said was true. He hadn't asked Kaz why he'd done what he'd done. He hadn't acted like the professional he'd claimed to be, that experience dictated he should have been. And he'd been about the furthest from a brother that he could have been.

Chase sighed, the realization that he'd made a huge mistake forcing the air out of his lungs like a punch to the stomach. He was going to have to find a way to make this right.

Oh, and he was never going to underestimate Oliver again.


End file.
